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Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It's an Internet flap

The Associated Press

Posted:
06/10/2014 01:14:28 AM MDT

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FILE - In this July 29, 2006 file photo, ground staffs check for the readiness of passenger planes of Nok Air, front, and Air Asia, rear, during a commercial test flight at Bangkok's new international airport, the Suvarnabhumi Airport, on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. A Thai AirAsia plane hit a bird Tuesday, June 10, 2014 during a flight in Thailand, where the word for bird is "nok," sparking social media confusion over whether the aircraft had collided with a plane from budget carrier Nok Air. Within hours of the collision, Nok Air went to Twitter to set the story straight: "We would like to clarify that Nok Air did not clip another aircraft today." The tweet added that the other aircraft had hit a real bird. The Airbus A320-200, carrying 151 passengers from Bangkok to southern Nakhon Si Thammarat, landed safely Wednesday morning but the impact left "a scratch" on the edge of the left wing, Thai AirAsia said in a statement. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, File)

BANGKOK (AP) — A Thai AirAsia plane hit a bird Tuesday during a flight in Thailand, where the word for bird is "nok," sparking social media confusion over whether the aircraft had collided with a plane from budget carrier Nok Air.

Within hours of the collision, Nok Air went to Twitter to set the story straight: "We would like to clarify that Nok Air did not clip another aircraft today." The tweet added that the other aircraft had hit a real bird.

The Airbus A320-200, carrying 151 passengers from Bangkok to southern Nakhon Si Thammarat, landed safely Wednesday morning but the impact left "a scratch" on the edge of the left wing, Thai AirAsia said in a statement.

The airline's chief engineer, Banyat Hansakul, described the damage as a small hole in the wing.

Engineers inspected and repaired the wing before the aircraft returned to Bangkok after a three-hour delay, the airline said.